1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to online and web conferencing meetings and, more particularly, to a means of requesting content in a live meeting from a non-meeting participant and sharing a document for presentation in the online meeting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the problem being addressed is the sharing of an electronic document in an online meeting (e.g., web conference), when the user has neither an application to share the document via an application sharing mode, or a web interface to upload the document for sharing (e.g., web enabled phone or multifunctional peripheral (MFP) scan-to-email). There are a number of well-known online meeting services that fail to adequately address this problem. These meeting services include: Cisco WebEx, Citrix GotoMeeting, Microsoft LiveMeeting, Adobe Connect, IBM Lotus Sametime, and DimDim.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram depicting a method for remote document collaboration (prior art). As disclosed in US pending patent US2004/0172450, Method to initiate server based collaboration on e-mail attachments, a user initiates collaboration on a document by sending it as an attachment in an email. The email is first processed by a collaboration server, which extracts the documents to be shared and stores them on the collaboration server, and replaces the attachment in the email with a link to the document on the collaboration server. A collaboration session is then constructed by the service.
This method does not provide a solution for importing a document into an existing scheduled meeting, and does not provide a solution for importing a document into a live meeting, by either a non-participant or from a source that is not logged into the meeting service. The collaboration session is not a live simultaneous meeting. Instead, the document is stored as a shared document at an online document repository for collaboration by multiple users.
Another method for email based collaboration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,080, System, method and computer program product for storage of a plurality of documents within a single file. In this method, a file container is constructed of a plurality of files for collaboration. An email list of collaborators is constructed, and the file container and email address list are sent to a collaboration server. The collaboration server constructs a first email message addressed to the first recipient. The message includes the file container and the recipient list minus the first recipient.
The first recipient, after receiving the email message, opens the message and edits the files in the file container. Upon completion (i.e., close message, or reply to collaboration server), the collaboration server constructs a second email message addressed to the next recipient in the recipient list. The message includes the edited file container and the recipient list minus the current recipient. The process is repeated until there are no recipients left.
This method does not provide a solution for importing a document into an existing scheduled meeting, and does not provide a solution for importing a document into a live meeting by either a non-participant or from a source that is not logged into the meeting service. The collaboration session disclosed is not a live meeting. Instead, it's an offline coordinated round-robin editing of a document.
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram depicting a printer method for sending documents (pending art). In this method, a printer has an email address, which can be used to send documents for printing. A user attaches the documents to print in the email message to the printer. The user may specify print options in the email message body. The attached files typically need to be in a format (e.g., PDL) that is native to the printer. In a variation of this method disclosed in pending application U.S. Ser. No. 11/737,607, Thin client driverless printing using a direct rendering server, the printer forwards any document in a non-native format to a document conversion service, which converts the document to a native format and sends it back to the printer for printing.
In another variation of email print, the printer supports a plurality of email addresses, where each email address is associated with a different print option. For example, booklet@myprinter.com and duplex@myprinter.com may tell the printer to print in booklet or duplex mode, respectively. These methods do not disclose a means of where to route a document in an email message, or a means for importing a document into a scheduled or live meeting.
Another method related to document collaboration via email, is scanning a document into a workflow, where the scanned document image is sent to the workflow via email. In this case, an email address is associated with a document workflow. The user scans a document on a scanner which supports sending the scanned image data via email. The user specifies the email address of the workflow as the destination for the scanned document image.
This method is limited to routing to a predetermined fixed source (i.e., named workflow). It does not disclose a means to use information in the email to find a matching source that is temporary in nature (e.g., a scheduled or live meeting). Neither does it disclose a means for importing a document into a scheduled or live meeting.
Thus, the conventional online meeting services require Internet connectivity, regardless of solution, for sharing a document in an online meeting. That is, a participating device must have web access to the Internet. However, the Internet may not be available if the device is a mobile device lacking Internet capability, or the meeting is based on an Internet service not enabled on the mobile device. Further, there may be a lack of WiFi connectivity at the user's current location, or the network transfer may be limited to email/ftp (MFP Network Scan).
Thus, a solution is required for devices with some form of WAN/LAN connectivity, but lacking Internet connectivity and/or web browser access.
A closely related issue is the problem of obtaining content after a meeting has started (live) from a user/owner that is not actively participating in the meeting. For example, a company may be having an online meeting whose participation is restricted to senior management. During the meeting, there is a need to obtain hiring data from the HR department. The participants in the meeting would therefore desire a simple way to request the HR department directly import the content into the meeting, without being a participant in the meeting.
While conventional online meeting services provide methods for the host to import content into a live meeting, they all have limitations in importing from non-host attendees, and provide no means for importing content from non-participants.
The Cisco WebEx meeting service allows a host to import content into a live meeting thought a variety of means. Presentations can be directly uploaded. For a limited number of formats (e.g., PDF or PowerPoint), the host or attendee can upload a document to the service. The service converts the document to the WebEx presentation format, which may then be rendered for display by the service. A host or attendee may also import a document from their PC by printing it to a WebEx file uploading virtual printer. This virtual printer converts the document on the host's PC to a presentation format and uploads it to the meeting service. Alternately, a host can preload a document of a limited number of formats, which will be automatically launched and optionally time presented when the meeting starts. Finally, the host and attendees may make online notes during the meeting.
The Citrix GotoMeeting does not support importing content, or online notes.
The Microsoft Live Meeting service allows a host to import content into a live meeting thought a variety of means. Direct upload for presentation—for a limited number of formats (PDF or MS-Office formats), the host or attendee can upload a document to the service. The service converts the document to the Live Meeting presentation format, which may then be rendered for display by the service. Print to Share—a host or attendee may import a document from their PC by printing it to a Live Meeting file uploading virtual printer. This virtual printer converts the document on the host's PC to a presentation format and uploads it to the meeting service. The host may make online notes during the meeting. The Microsoft Live Meeting service does not support preloading content.
The DimDim meeting service allows a host to import content into a live meeting thought a variety of means. Direct upload for presentation—for a limited number of formats (PDF or PowerPoint), the host or attendee can upload a document to the service. The service converts the document to the WebEx presentation format, which may then be rendered for display by the service. The DimDim meeting service does not support preloading content or online notes.
The Adobe Connect meeting service allows a host to import content into a live meeting thought a variety of means. Direct upload for presentation—for a limited number of formats (e.g., PDF, PowerPoint, Flash), the host or attendee can upload a document to the service. The host may make online notes during the meeting.
None of the aforementioned solutions did provide a means to request and import content during (or before) a live meeting from a non-participant.
It would be advantageous if a predetermined or impromptu request can be made in a live meeting to a non-meeting participant for the importation of content, such as: documents, status/summaries and responses.
It would be advantageous to integrate the imported content with the meeting content, and categorize the content based on the reason for the request (e.g., action items).
It would be further be advantageous if the request and importation occur asynchronous to the meeting, such that the content can be received and imported between periods of the live meeting, when the meeting is a continuous or otherwise recurring meeting.